Digital Trends Bulletin for School/Parish Administrators

Digital Trends Bulletin
               for School/Parish Administrators
                                        March 2021
              Compiled by the Archdiocese of Milwaukee Safe Environment Office

Technology has become an increasingly large portion of our interaction and communication
within our schools and parishes over the last year. Technology can be a powerful tool but brings
with it many new avenues for interactions, information, and behaviors that can be concerning.

In the Safe Environment Office, we recognize that technology is changing how adults and
children may create a digital environment that could place a child in a vulnerable position to be
exploited or exposed to unsafe interactions or situations. We have tried to expand our
opportunities to learn from information available in webinars, situations reported, and other
sources of information to provide school and parish staff with some information to stay current
with the trends that our children and youth are engaging in online and on social media. This
bulletin is to assist in equipping adults with the information and indicators of concern regarding
current technology and how it is being used.

                            Social Media App – TikTok
Fast Facts on TikTok
•   Social Media App that allows users to create profiles in order to create content, belong to a
    community, and interact with other users
•   Has been around since 2016
•   Merged with the Musical.ly app in 2018
•   Owned by a Chinese company
•   This app has amassed and stored the largest amount of user data in comparison to other
    programs
•   The algorithm for TikTok learns faster than other apps what a user likes based on what a user
    clicks, comments, follows, creates, or likes
•   Consists of multiple niche communities some of which include concerning content involving
    illegal behaviors, hacking, drug use, etc. These niche communities can serve as an echo
    chamber for connecting like-minded individuals with each other
•   This app feeds into a youth’s desire to belong and to be popular through views, likes,
    hashtags, followers, comments, and showing up on other users’ “For You” page
•   As with most social media apps, a TikTok user’s age is not verified when the account is
    created. A user could misrepresent their age in order to bypass certain protections or
    restrictions designed to protect younger users

Current TikTok Trends
Self-harm Language: Hashtags that reference self-harm that originated as a coded language to
avoid identification are being seen being used in TikTok such as the #MySecretFamily. More
information on these concerning hashtags can be found in the article Secret Society:
Understanding the language of Self- Harm on Instagram.

Language referencing someone “wanting to be unalive”, “unalive themselves”, or that includes a
hashtag #unalive is referencing self-harm and would be equivalent to an individual mentioning
suicide.

Original Sounds: Sounds that are unique and original can be searched for and function as
hashtags.

Duets: Duets are a user creating a video that reacts to another user’s video. It is used as a way to
boost a user’s popularity. Duets can be dangerous since they allow anyone to interact with
another user, and they reinforce a user’s desire to create content or reach out to user’s to “duet”
their video.

Fairy Comments: Fairy comments are a passive aggressive comment that starts out positive and
then ends in a backhanded disparaging statement. These comments are typically combined with
emoji images of fairy wings, rainbows, stars, and unicorns.

“Put a Finger Down Challenge”: This is a challenge where a user will be asked a series of
questions on worrisome or concerning behavior and are asked to put a finger down if they have
engaged in that worrisome behavior. Studies have shown students in a heightened state of trauma
with increased concerns being reported involving cyberbullying and mental health
issues. Concerning online content and behaviors among youth are predominately being reported
on TikTok and Instagram over the last few months. Examples: “Put a finger down if you have
ever gone to school high.” or “Put a finger down if you have ever had sex with someone older
than you.” This challenge can encourage users to use these questions to encourage concerning
behavior to increase their popularity.

The Use of Emojis and Alternate Characters to Avoid Censorship: Videos and images on
TikTok are subject to censorship. Users will sometimes creatively replace portions of words
with alternative characters or replacing the word with an emoji to avoid their video or image
being censored.

Formation of Communities of Negative Trauma: Since a user’s suggested content is going to
display other videos, hashtags, and users that will contain similar themes and content, these
communities can serve as a positive reinforcement of negative thoughts and harmful

content. For instance, a video that is liked by a user that discusses self-harm will trigger that user
to begin seeing multiple other videos with similar content discussing self-harm. The user may
then begin to find themselves immersed in content that reinforces the normalization of self-
harm.

#Handprints: The hashtag handprints can indicate that an individual is disclosing that someone
has sexually or physically abused them when accompanied by a video or image that shows an
individual with handprints in paint or ink on different portions of the body. However, this same
hashtag accompanied by a red handprint over the mouth can indicate showing support for the
movement to raise awareness for the Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women Movement.

#ShampooandConditioner & #IAtePasta: These hashtags are associated with a cry for help for
mental health concerns or possible history of or currents thoughts of self-harm when used in
some way with a video or image. The hashtags reference two reasons referenced in pop culture
that someone with suicidal thoughts has given that persuade them to not go through with taking
their own life.

Cross-App Video Sharing: Users can share videos across multiple different social media
apps. Many other apps are expanding to adopt the TikTok model due to its current popularity.

Guides for Parents and Law Enforcement
Guide for Parents
Guide for Law Enforcement

If there is a concern regarding content on TikTok
Some portions of public profiles can be viewed. If a video needs to be downloaded, it can be
downloaded by copying and pasting the link, right-clicking, and selecting “save video as.” A
user is not notified if their video is downloaded.

If there is a concern that involves an imminent threat or danger, it is important to involve law
enforcement right away since law enforcement is able to file emergency requests for information
with social media apps but the time frame in which the request is filed may determine if the
request is granted or denied.

A request that is not filed immediately by law enforcement may be denied by TikTok since the
social media company may not view it as an emergency request if time has elapsed between
when the content was posted and when the emergency request was filed. A school would not be
able to file an Emergency Disclosure Request with a social media app, but a law enforcement
agency would have the authority to do so.

Privacy Change Effective January 2021
As of January 2021, privacy changes for user accounts in TikTok went into effect that put
additional restrictions and controls on user accounts of a user under the age of 16. A user under
16 years old now has the following limitations or restrictions:

1.   Videos of a user under 16 are unable to be downloaded.
2.   Content of a user under 16 won’t appear under other users “suggested” content.
3.   “Friends” have to be approved.
4.   Users under 16 are unable to duet a friend.
5.   Users under 16 are unable to receive or send virtual “gifts.”
6.   Parents/guardians are able to link their account to their child’s account.

             Concerning Trends for School Administrators
Omegle
Omegle was designed as an anonymous chat-based social media app that allowed two strangers
to instant message or video chat. It was designed not only as an app but also as a
website. Omegle videos are appearing on other social media apps such as TikTok. User
accounts of minors are “moderated.” However, since no verification is made of the age of the
user when an account is created, this safety feature would rely on the honesty of the user entering
in their true age. Aggressive language and conversation are seen on this app/site and strangers
will often try to very quickly try to determine the “age and gender” of a user. The chat log on
this app/site is able to be saved in some instances.

Administrators should verify that both the websites www.omegle.com and www.omegle.onl are
both blocked by school information services staff and blocking programs. Although this site and
app have been around since 2009, it still remains active and would be concerning for a child or
youth to be using this site or app.

Google Docs
Google Docs is an important tool and is used readily across schools, families, and businesses. It
is not a concern in and of itself. The concern comes from the way some students are using the
app to share inappropriate images or conversations with each other by using a shared doc among
a group of students. A shared google doc can have an image pasted into the google doc and that
image would then be visible to all students that share that google doc. Since Google Doc saves
in real-time, if the image is deleted, then the image or content may not be able to be retrieved.

Spill the Tea/Confession Pages
These pages or accounts typically are created around a specific group such as a school,
community, or group. The administrator is anonymous and will receive submissions from other
anonymous users and then post them to the page or account. This are used to anonymously post
comments, statements, gossip or engage in cyber bullying all under a veil of anonymity. These
pages or accounts are a rumor mill and a game of telephone all conducted through available
technology.

Tellonym
Tellonym is a chat-based messaging app that can be used by a predator to learn about, view, and
message a student under the veil of anonymity. Adults should be concerned if this app is on a
child’s phone or device and they should watch for a Tellonym account username listed on any
other social media account used by a child. Use of this app could indicate the child is interacting
with strangers online and can be at a greater risk for an anonymous adult learning, grooming, or
interacting with that child without any type of parental controls or safety measures.

15Minutes4Me.com
The website 15minutes4me.com is a website that has self-help for stress and online tests an
individual can take regarding a variety of stressors or mental health conditions. These tests are
not meant to indicate a diagnosis or treatment of any type of mental health condition. However,
some youth are using these online tests to self-diagnose themselves. This is another example of
how a website or app can be neutral or helpful when used as intended, but it can be used
inappropriately or in an unhealthy way that can create a situation that can lead to unsafe
situations or perspectives involving a youth.

Apps Used for Virtual Meetings & Classrooms
Apps such as Zoom and Google Meet continue to be vulnerable to individuals joining meetings
uninvited or for minors being exposed to harmful or inappropriate content. Remember to use
any appropriate safety controls when using these apps.

Some quick safety tips for virtual meetings:
• Do not admit unknown individuals into the meeting and know how to remove or block
   someone that is not intended to be in the meeting.
• Use the waiting room feature.
• Do not publicly post the meeting link or access information but instead send the meeting
   login information directly to the intended participants.
• Have two safe environment-certified adults present in the meeting with one adult “leading”
   the meeting and the other adult “moderating” the meeting.

Upcoming Bulletin
The next bulletin will highlight the social media app Instagram and other miscellaneous trends or
apps that may be helpful to increase our knowledge base. If you have a suggestion or have had a
situation that has arisen at your school or parish that you think would be helpful for others to be
aware of, please email Suzanne in the Safe Environment Office at nickolais@archmil.org.